S.D. could require multifamily water meters

Plan calls for installation in new units

PUBLIC MEETING

What: An ordinance that would force new multifamily and mixed-use developments to install water meters in each unit to encourage conservation

When: 6 p.m. tomorrow

Where: City Hall, 202 C St.

San Diego  San Diego is poised to set a regional water conservation benchmark by forcing developers of new multifamily and mixed-use complexes to install water meters for each unit.

The City Council takes up a proposed ordinance tomorrow after months of fine-tuning. The proposal is widely expected to pass, creating what several water experts said would be a first in the county. It would require submetering for new complexes with three or more units and in cases when an entire interior drinking water system is replaced for a complex with three or more homes. Some exemptions apply.

“We wanted it to be good enough that others in the county use it and follow it,” said Alan Pentico, director of public affairs of the San Diego County Apartment Association.

Pentico is concerned about the possible costs and complications for high-rise developers but said otherwise, “It’s a great thing.”

City leaders said the measure will encourage water savings in a sector of the population that largely has been overlooked when it comes to trimming water use. Similar rules being crafted in Sacramento attempt to do the same on a statewide level.

Multifamily homes account for 44 percent of the housing units in San Diego, and the number of units is expected to grow by 120,000 to 346,000 over the next two decades.

Studies show that renters cut their water use by 15 percent to 39 percent if they are made to pay for the amount they use instead of having their water charges folded into their overall monthly bill.

“The more that people are able to see exactly how much they are using, the more ability and incentive they have to cut back,” said Alex Roth, a spokesman for Mayor Jerry Sanders, who supports the ordinance.

California has suffered three years of drought that have forced most local water agencies to cut their use by about 10 percent. This year is shaping up to be wet, but declining fish populations in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta mean water supplies are likely to remain tight.

Most recent conservation campaigns in San Diego County have targeted outdoor irrigation because that is where more than half the water is used, and many single-family homes have been upgraded with low-flow devices such as toilets and faucets.

Scant attention has been paid to reducing consumption at multifamily complexes, where residents typically pay a set amount.

Under the proposed ordinance, the city’s Water Department would continue to charge property owners and managers, who would be responsible for providing individual bills.

The fiscal impact to San Diego is expected to be minimal because oversight costs will be covered by permit and plan review fees, according to city documents.

For developers, the cost to install the submeter system is likely to range from $150 to $300 per unit on new construction. For some projects, additional plumbing requirements could add 2 percent to the total construction cost, city officials estimated.

In Sacramento, legislation introduced by Assemblyman Paul Fong, D-Cupertino, is expected to have its first airing next month. Fong’s measure, AB 1975, would require multifamily complexes built after Jan. 1, 2011, to install meters for each unit as a condition of water service. Owners would be allowed to charge tenants based on the volume of water they use.

“We need to take a hard look at the facts that say we cannot continue to take a pass on every available opportunity to conserve water,” Fong said in an e-mail.

The Sierra Club is sponsoring the measure. Its legislative advocate, Jim Metropulos, said extending meters to apartments and other multifamily dwellings is an important step in the state’s conservation campaign.